


Escape

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Their Name Is Death [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Don’t copy to another site, GFY, Gen, Jedi are not your friends, mind wiping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 08:43:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17362745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: The Council will see it as a test of him, of their plans for him, and they will send him and Master, and observers to see if he is worthy their continued attention.Worthy of more fire and knives, to destroy the undesired and leave only ash and blood behind to make what they want.





	Escape

He had learned not to think about escape, thoughts burned and slashed away, not where anyone could see. Hidden deep in his mind beneath the mandated serenity, beneath even the constant rage, at the core of himself, wrapped up and concealed from the footprints of Master and Council. There, he could think about when deep in meditation, when no one watched, when they thought him the obedient Padawan they desired.

It is in meditation he considers Tatooine, and the warrior who'd fought Master, had left the old man winded and weakened, if not enough for him to even consider a leap of his own from ship to sand. Consider, and reject, in the deepest heart of him, the thought not rising to conscious level. Tatooine was not a planet to take his chances on.

But that warrior, with a crimson blade, wrapped in black as deep as space. He could see something there, a glimmer of chance, if he could but snatch at it. Whoever it was, they would not give up easily. They would face him again, on Naboo, when they return. And they _will_ return, of that he has no doubts. The Council will see it as a test of him, of their plans for him, and they will send him and Master, and observers to see if he is worthy their continued attention.

Worthy of more fire and knives, to destroy the undesired and leave only ash and blood behind to make what they want.

But they will not want him to die, and Master will fight, and perhaps the observer too. Perhaps enough a distraction for him to use. He'll only need access to a ship with a hyperdrive afterward - though he'll prefer not the Naboo ship, too reconizable. Whatever the warrior uses to get ahead of them to Naboo, he'll have to find.

All he needs to decide now is if he should tell Master his certainty, as if it's some cryptic vision, or keep it to himself. To determine which will provide him a better chance at escape.

Turning the idea over and over in his mind, he hasn't made up his mind when he feels a tug toward consciousness. Burying the thoughts, he follows the command, coming up from his meditation to see Master's smile, soft-edged and gentle. Waiting for him.

"The Council has agreed to teach Anakin, and to send extra help with us to locate this renegade we encountered on Tatooine." Master offers him a hand, pulling him up from the meditation mat. "We'll continue on that mission once we have cleaned up Naboo."

"Of course, my Master." He bows his head, his mind a blank calm that's expected after meditation. They will go where they are commanded, and do what they are told. Any other thought or feeling is irrelavent.

He follows in Master's wake as he's expected, from Temple to ship, noting the two pairs of Master and Padawan that accompany them - Micah and Garen, Adi and Siri - along with their usual shadow. From ship to planet to palace. They're in the hanger, Adi with the pilots, the rest to follow the Queen in her plan, when the feel of cold darkness rolls out from the doors as they open.

The warrior from Tatooine stands there, patient and unsmiling, hood thrown back to reveal tattoos and horns. A chance made of flesh and blood, and he falls back just a little, letting the Masters take the lead, Garen and Siri between them and him. Meeting the warrior's yellow-and-red eyes for a moment before they shrug cloaks off in near-unison.

Garen never has a chance to realize what is happening, as he slams into him, igniting his lightsaber as he presses it to Garen's back, shoving his dying body at Siri. The warrior moves at the same time, his blood-red blade doubled, a staff rather than saber, taking the attention of both Masters.

"What are you doing?" Siri stares at him, though she brings her lightsaber up to block his blow, even as she back-pedals to get out of range.

He doesn't answer her with words, drawing on every bit of training Master and Council had drilled into his head, had pressed into the wounds they made to fill them. Their battle is pushed steadily by the Masters and the warrior, through a door that opens into a space of catwalks and long falls, and he does not think of the boon he's been granted with this place.

It is a dance, and he is the best, though Siri is good. He has to take off her arm to give him a chance, and a kick sends her tumbling into the depths, shock keeping her from catching herself on any of the catwalks. He has only a moment to catch his breath before he has to turn, catching Micah's blue blade on his own. The Masters had decided which of them was best dispatched to subdue him before they took the warrior down.

Snarling, he shoves back, Force-aided, and leaps off the catwalk, choosing another as a better place to fight from. Drawing the rage up from beneath the calm he hid it under. He can feel the pressure to calm, to rest, to sleep, and he grins fiercely at Micah as the Master joins him. Shoving back, imagining fire, and drawing on the Force to feed the image in his mind.

That Micah stops, that he falls to his knees, mouth opening as if to scream, and letting out only smoke and a thin tongue of flame, surprises him. He had not thought it would do anything save to slow the Master. Perhaps destroy the bond that was being used to beat at his mind.

Looking down at the now-corpse, he hesitates only a moment before pushing the body over the edge to join Siri. Looking up to check the other two Masters and the warrior, finding them still furiously engaged, unable to break another away to deal with him. Leaving only finding a ship and getting past the one in space to escape.

He turns his attention away from the fight, and leaps, fleeing back through the hanger, and the door that had opened on the warrior, reaching out to seek the same icy darkness the warrior had exuded. Hoping that following the faint trace will lead him to whatever ship the warrior had used to arrive ahead of them. He must have a ship. The Queen's is too far, with too many between him and it.

How long it takes him to find the ship, he never can recall later, only that he found it tucked in a hanger that he doesn't think is on any maps of Theed. It takes time to get inside, though once he does, and he gets to the cockpit, the controls are unlocked, waiting for him to take it. He doesn't question his good fortune now, only takes a moment to figure out what controls what, and how to get the hanger open, before he starts the engines.

In space, there is still a battle, but it is concentrated on one side of the planet, and it takes little effort to set an atmosphere-skimming orbit, and flee to space on the far side from the battle and the risk of the other Master stopping him. Where to go from here, though... He stares blindly at the navicomp for a long moment, before shaking his head, and looking away, reaching for the Force, and the rage that still boils in his veins. Entering coordinates without thinking too hard about them, and letting the ship's computer take it from there.

He will go where it takes him. Away from the Jedi, that much he knows, but where, he will find when he arrives. Somewhere safe, he hopes.

As the stars blur and streak around him, he hears a strange laughter, harsh and bitter, that it takes a moment to realize is himself. Hollow laughter, born of fear and rage and impossible freedom. How long that freedom will last, he doesn't know, but for the first time in his life, he is alone, away from Master and Council and without anyone to tell him he must be this or that or the other.


End file.
